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April 2, 2003

New Frontiers for Foliofn

Industry Pioneer Hires Institutional Chief, to Foc

Foliofn, the Vienna, Virginia-based financial services firm that specializes in allowing investors to construct easy-to-customize portfolios themselves, has hired a Wall Street veteran to be new institutional chief and is expanding its offerings to RIAs.

The new Foliofn Institutional president, Gordon Henderson, previously ran a number of firms including Global Trade Technologies, a bond trading system provider, as well as BondNet trading Systems. Henderson says he plans to step up Foliofn's efforts to license its trading technology to other firms; among its current licensees are Quick & Reilly, Brinker Capital, and, industry sources say, Currian Capital, a recently formed separate account provider.

Henderson also says Foliofn plans to add mutual funds to its menu, as well as to offer custodial services to advisors. "Our institutional and advisor fees are extremely competitive and flexible and can be offered as a single asset-based fee, starting at 40 basis points and going down from there," He says. "This includes everything--custody, trading, even proxy voting online."

Foliofn, he adds, can support downloads to leading portfolio management software applications including those from Advent and Centerpiece (now Schwab PortfolioCenter). Henderson adds that he plans to offer a wide-range of no-load mutual funds on the Foliofn no-transaction-fee platform. Among his long-term plans, Henderson also expects to be able to offer fixed-income instruments.